MIRAMAR -- As the sun dimmed for a moment, 120 grieving police officers, family members and friends stood by silently as a dispatcher`s voice crackled over a police radio.

``Let us give 30 seconds of silence to bid a final 10-7 (out of service) to a gentle man who will be missed by all ...``

Roy McLaren, police chief for the past four years, a man whom colleagues called a bright, caring person with a mischievous sense of humor, was bid a final farewell on Saturday afternoon at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Miramar.

McLaren, who was 61, died at his home on Thursday, two weeks after he was released from Pembroke Pines General Hospital. After a heart attack on Feb. 1, McLaren lapsed into a coma from which he never emerged.

A two-block-long procession of police motorcycles and squad cars from departments as far away as Delray Beach and Lighthouse Point wound its way to the church past the police station in a last tribute.

Inside the church, as an organist finished playing two musical pieces McLaren had composed, Christopher Dell, columnist for the Naples Daily News, paid homage to a man who was his friend for 35 years.

``He was a symbol of courage, a symbol of what good people strive to be,`` Dell said. ``He was more than a friend. He was my hero.``

Like other friends, Dell described McLaren as an intellectual, a renaissance man who played tennis and golf, flew airplanes, read philosophy and wrote one of the country`s most widely used law enforcement textbooks, Police Administration.

Colleagues described McLaren as a tough and demanding administrator who gave his full support to his officers and to the city.

``Miramar is a better city because of him,`` said Police Officer Rick Bellrose, a 15-year veteran of the Miramar department.

Although known for his low-key, stoic demeanor, McLaren was easily moved to laughter and frolic. There was the time that McLaren tricked the whole Police Department into believing a hurricane was on its way even though hurricane season was months away.

Miramar Police Lt. Chuck Febro, a neighbor and close friend of McLaren`s for four years, said that is the side of McLaren he will always remember most.

``Roy was the brightest candle,`` Febro said. ``And the brightest candles only burn half as long.``